Hard-boiled Tacoma

Tacoma is the scene of the crime in Isaac Olsen‘s hardboiled, film noir comedy, Quiet Shoes. Set in the smoke-and-mirrors world of a private dick named Rick Savage, Olsen’s first full-length feature premiered in June at the Rialto Theater. Quiet Shoes took the Tacoma native more than four years to make, and the naked city never looked so good: “In fashioning this world, Olsen brilliantly utilizes downtown and industrial Tacoma. Around every corner an alleyway looms, and on every horizon great plumes of smoke lurk. It’s a thrill to see Tacoma finally used to all its gritty potential,” raved the Weekly Volcano. “The film is much funnier and far more bizarre than your Maltese Falcon types.”

Spaceworks Tacoma has awarded Olsen’s company, Schnelluloid Film, Inc., a three-month residency at 1114 Pacific Ave. that will allow him to complete post-production work on a new feature film, I Hunger, “about a boyish creature who lives in the German forest.” I Hunger is “a German Expressionist art film [shot] last year in Flint, Michigan,” he explains. He will also continue work-in-progress on various animated and live-action shorts.

A scene from I Hunger, a film by Isaac Olsen

Olsen welcomes those who have never been inside a post-production studio to come take a look at where he shoots in-camera visual effects. A cool array of Schnelluloid merchandise is available for purchase: DVDs, tees, posters and more. Be sure to check out Quiet Shoes – the film stars local actors including Dale Phillips and Kurt Kendall of the legendary garage band, Girl Trouble; with a score by Kendall, Sam Olsen of Red Hex and Dick Rossetti of Twink the Wonder Kid. Schnelluloid Film, Inc., 1114 Pacific Ave., through mid-Sept., 2010; www.schnelluloid.com